A summer of discontents | Economist.com: For the last year or so it's been social unrest after social unrest, and this story covers the situation well. What's surprising (or perhaps not) is that despite the high prices, poor services, widespread discontent, not only is there little sign of any meaningful political change (aside from those rumors of a cabinet shuffle) but that Egypt's political future is still as hazy as ever. Also read Baheyya on this - several recent posts touch on this point, in which she takes a slow gradual view of things.

Also, kudos to The Economist again last week for being the only major Western publication (as far as I saw) to note, when covering the recent US arms-deal funding bonanza, that the increase in military aid being given to Israel would be subject to negotiation with Egypt since the ratio of Egyptian to Israeli military aid is supposed to be set in the Camp David agreement (this of course excludes other forms of aid to Israel, such as loan guarantees.)

Issandr El Amrani is a Cairo-based writer and consultant. His reporting and commentary on the Middle East and North Africa has appeared in The Economist, London Review of Books, Financial Times, The National, The Guardian, Time and other publications. He also publishes one of the longest-running blog in the region, www.arabist.net.